Don't You Worry, Child
by quesis4jesus
Summary: After returning from a grueling and exhausting case, Aaron Hotchner's son, Jack, is kidnapped by a delirious UNSUB. Can the team find Jack in time, or will Aaron lose yet another family member? Rated T for physical abuse, language, and possible rape. Might turn into M in some chapters. Co-authored with Selfless-Touched-Storyteller


**Author's Note: Hi everyone! Thank you all so much for checking out this story! This will get dark, as was noted in the story description. This is my first fanfiction, and I am co-authoring it with Selfless-Touched-Storyteller. We met through fanfic and became besties, and I am honored to write with her! Free plug for her- please check out her amazing work, "Far From Home". She has a beautiful talent! Anyway, back to my story! You can be harsh on me- I can handle criticism. If you see any grammar mistakes, let me know- that's a huge pet peeve of mine. I will try to update this fairly often, but I am a college student! Please rate and review! Thanks a million, and I love you all! *virtual hugs to all of you wonderful creatures* (Could you tell I'm kind of like Garcia? LOL.)**

In a dark, dank cellar, a young boy sat huddled up in the corner of a small room. His back was pressed up firmly against the cold brick wall, his violent shivering the only movement in the room. With trembling fingers, he brushed a damp string of matted blonde hair from his face. Silently rocking back and forth, he dared to search the room, looking for something- anything to help him. His gaze fell on one, flat mattress that lay in the center of this dungeon- his dungeon. He was strangely relieved to find that he was all by himself. But where was Daddy? His daddy fought the bad guys. So where was Daddy now? Why wasn't he here with him... to save him?

But Jack knew deep down inside that his daddy was coming to take him away from this horrid place.

Because no one could beat Daddy.

_3 Days Earlier..._

Aaron Hotcher sighed as he walked through the bullpen of the FBI and into his office. The team had just returned from a grueling, catastrophic case. Granted, no case was a walk in the park, but this one was different. The UNSUB was a young man who became a father figure, then tortured, raped and released his victims, all middle aged children who had been abandoned by their fathers. The case had affected each team member- no one had ever seen such innocent children being preyed upon like this.

JJ could not stop thinking of Henry, who was three. "Why would someone do that to a child? What about Henry? There're some monsters that you can't be saved from...," JJ thought.

Then there was Morgan. The poor man had already been through so much, and this brought up painful memories about Carl Beuford. "Damn it! No one deserves to go through this!" Morgan slammed his fist down on his desk. All he wanted to do was strangle the son-of-a-bitch who did this to innocent children for fun. For pleasure. While the rest of the team was horrified, Morgan was able to empathize with the children because of his experience. "No one deserves to be used and abandoned like this. Goddamn it, why couldn't we get there sooner?!"

Reid and Garcia were shocked that someone would do this. Reid was prepared for the job, and he knew all of the facts, but he wasn't prepared for when reality hit him and slapped him across his face. The case brought up his issues of Gideon leaving the team. "What about the children who have to live with this? How do they move on knowing that someone so close to them wanted to hurt them so deeply?" Penelope could not wrap her head around how someone would hurt such innocent babies. "These poor children...They're innocent, for Christ's sake!" Penelope wanted so badly to wrap each of the victims up in a warm, fuzzy blanket and give them nothing but love. Unfortunately, even Penelope knew that their scars would run too deep for her to heal.

Rossi could not stop thinking about his own son. He never had the chance to see his boy grow up. "How could someone take advantage of another person like this? We're supposed to be there for people, not abandon them!"

All Prentiss wanted to do was forget about this case. She just wanted to have her neat, little boxes ready for her to stow this case into. She refused to address her emotional side. Unfortunately, this was one of the cases that stuck with everyone. Try as she might, this case reared its ugly head every chance it got. It wouldn't let her forget...

The only thing that Hotchner could think about was his son, Jack. All he wanted to do was go home and see Jack's smiling face. He wanted to hear his adorable voice saying, "Hi, daddy!" He could not help but think of how he was not there for Jack in the past. "I've failed him. I was not there for him when he needed me. That's why I have changed so much." Try as he might, it was always a fighting battle for Hotchner. He would never let himself forget how he was rarely ever there for Jack and Haley, but he knew that he had to move on. He could only go forward.


End file.
